"Australia is so cool that it's hard to even know where to start describing it. The beaches are beautiful; so is the weather. Not too crowded. Great food, great music, really nice people. It must be a lot like Los Angeles was many years ago. "- Mary-Kate Olsen

School is officially in Session!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, I’m that excited about it. Why? Well it probably has to do with the fact that since December 18^th, 2009, I have had no schedule besides working at Best Buy. That’s a very long 2 ½ months for me not to be busy! Starting this past Monday, I’ve finally began a schedule!

Monday’s- I have all day free, because my first class of the day actually starts at 6:00pm. My first lecture is on Television and Popular Culture. I was a nervous on my first day because the lecture room held about 150 people but there were only about 80 students. Yes, 80 students, still seems a lot but I was relieved at that number! My course head, Lisa, began the class and like every other first week of school, she just went over what is expected and what we will be doing for the semester. She was different to say the least! Flaming dyed red/orange hair and think rimmed bright red glasses, and of course you have to add on the Australian accent.  The lecture each Monday is 1 ½ hours and then I go right to my tutes. ( a.k.a Tutorial). This is where I feel much more comfortable, since the class size it’s about 20 students.  Luckily I have the same professor, Lisa for my tutes and she makes it fun! I’m very excited about this class, I’m one of three American students and we had to introduce ourselves. Long story short, since it is a Television and Popular Culture class, they asked me if I watched the Jersey Shore…and I was proud to tell them NO. We are also working in partners for a project, and my partner is Emily, an already graduated Law student but she is currently working on her Bachelors for Arts.  I think we will be good partners, since we are doing our project on Crime shows, so of course CSI Las Vegas comes up and both of us agree. Perfect.

Tuesday’s- This is my semi busy day, its weird because I have to commute everyday from my apartment. On the bus. It’s only 7-10 minute ride, depending on the time of day. My roommate Melissa and I are both in our 9am, Australia’s Terrestrial Environment. It’s a biology class and is geared for students who are on exchange for a semester. It’s a big class because….we have field trips! It seems like a very interesting class, my professor Steve is a vertebrate Paleontologist, so its great to listen to him lecture. Only down side, I can’t write that fast! So I had to buy a voice recorder because the class is much larger then usual. So! My Field Trips! We go on three day trips and a 5 day trip. My day trips are Brisbane Forest Park, Lamington National Park, and “behind the scenes” tour of the Australia Zoo ( Steve Erwins zoo). The big field trip is the week before our semester break and it’s to Fraser Island, the biggest sand Island in the world. This link will direct you to a previous semester’s trip to Frazer Island, check out what I’ll be doing! (click--> BIOL2001) Of course, there trips come with reports that we must do, but  at least I get to see different parts of the city and learn!

I also have Australian Popular Culture on Tuesdays, but so far its not very exciting. We only went over the syllabus and the highlight of this class so far is that we have to watch a movie every week and discuss it. I think I can handle that. This is a boring class compared to the biology class.

Fun Fact of the Day!

You may be wondering why I am referring to my professors or lecturers by their first name. Well, in Australia everything including the classroom is casual, so the professors want to be called by their first name. They believe that they are not above us or special, of course they may be a doctor, or have their masters, but they don’t boast about it. If you call them Professor, they just give you a weird look and remind you what their name is.